100-Mile Breakfast Promotes Local Eating

October 1, 2006 — John Labovitz

About 150 hungry folks, including our State Master, Phyllis Wilson, and her son David Wilson came to the Silverton Grange on September 30 to enjoy a delicious and unique breakfast. The 100-Mile Breakfast was made with ingredients grown or produced within one hundred miles of Silverton. The menu included hazelnut pancakes with fruit compote, scones, egg frittata with chevre cheese, sausages, fresh fruit, apple cider, tea and locally roasted coffee. (See the full brochure and menu in PDF format.)

When the Silverton Grange centered its focus on sustainability, supporting local agriculture became one of its primary goals. The idea of the 100 Mile Diet was discussed and it wasn’t long until the idea of an educational fundraiser featuring foods from within a hundred miles of Silverton emerged as the 100-Mile Breakfast.

A committee was appointed to source food produced locally and to plan the menu. It was discovered that buying local food takes extra thought and effort, and it is not always convenient or even possible. Staples such as salt, oil, sugar and baking soda are simply not produced here. Other foods like coffee and wheat are grown more than 100 miles from Silverton. However, there are local businesses that convert the raw, imported materials into food that is as local as possible.

The Silverton Grange believes that this effort to encourage local eating, and to support sustainable community in general, is in direct alignment with the National Grange’s Declaration of Purposes. It states: “For our business interests we desire to bring producer and consumer into the most direct and friendly relations possible, remembering that ‘individual happiness depends upon general prosperity.’”

As an enthusiastic supporter of local agriculture, quality education, and sustainable community, the Silverton Grange plans to host more events and programs around these themes in the future. We wish also to act as an information clearinghouse for those concerned about these issues. The 100-Mile Breakfast was only a first step in that direction.